So Close and Still So Far
by cmaddict
Summary: They're so close and still so far. A collection of oneshot song fics featuring everyone's favorite lab rat couple: WEDGES!
1. So Close

**A/N: I seem to be on a role lately with these fics... inspiration just comes from nowhere! This is going to be a collection of song fics featuring everyone's favorite lab rat couple: Wendy and Hodges. Some will be light and fluffy, some won't... we'll just see where inspiration takes me.**

**This first fic features the song "So Close," recorded by Jon McLaughlin from the movie "Enchanted" (my favorite movie song ever). I have ideas for some songs, but I'd love to get your input on which songs I should use. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the reviews!**

**Disclaimer: CSI is the property of Paramount and Jerry Bruckheimer, and "So Close" is the property of Jon McLaughlin and Disney.**

* * *

"And finally, here's to us lab rats, who are, without a doubt, some of the most intelligent people in the LVPD. Nay, in all of Clark County." David Hodges raised his beer bottle to the laughing guffaws and snorts of his fellow lab techs.

"Careful, Hodges," DNA tech Wendy Simms said with a snort. "Grissom hears you say that, you're out of a job."

"Last I checked, Grissom's not here, is he?" Hodges retorted snidely.

Mandy Webster giggled as she sipped her cosmopolitan. "I hear he has eyes and ears in every corner."

"I hear he can appear anywhere at any time," Henry Andrews joined in.

"I hear you finally dumped that Icelandic pen-pal, Henry," Hodges interrupted, glaring at the tox tech. "Maybe she finally figured out that you're not the six-foot, 180-pound stud she thought you were."

"Ouch," Henry winced. "That was kinda cruel."

"Aw, Henry." Wendy threw her arm around her colleague. "By now you should know that every time Hodges runs out of something intelligent to say, he sticks his foot in his mouth."

Hodges glared at her and sipped his beer. He desperately wanted to come back with some sort of sharp retort, but this was Wendy. She was right. Every time he ran out of something intelligent to say to her, he stuck his foot in his mouth. So he settled for casual flirting and banter with the pretty DNA tech.

His thoughts were interrupted by Wendy's deep brown eyes in front of his face. "Earth to Hodges," she said, waving her hand in front of his eyes. "You've got nothing?"

"I've decided I'm going to forgo any sharp, witty retort in favor of being the bigger man."

Wendy's jaw dropped. "Wow. That's amazing."

"Yeah," Mandy chimed in. "Our little Hodges is growing up. Didn't I tell you moving out of his mother's house would do wonders for him?"

"Mm-hmm. Baby steps." Wendy grinned at the scowling trace tech.

"Well, I have a toast to make," Archie Johnson said, raising his glass. "To breaking another case."

"Now _that_ I'll drink to," Wendy said, raising her glass as well. The other techs clinked their glasses or bottles together and simultaneously took a drink. Within minutes, music pulsed from the speakers over their table.

"Oooh, I love this song!" Mandy shouted over the speakers. "Henry, come dance with me."

"What?! But I…" Henry didn't get to finish his sentence before Mandy dragged him out of his chair to the dance floor in the center of the large room.

Archie glanced over at Wendy. "Wanna dance?"

She grinned. "Of course." She took his proffered hand and let him guide her to the dance floor.

Hodges leaned back in his chair and stared at Wendy. Her hips moved in time with the beat. A grin graced her pretty face, and her eyes sparkled in the colored lights. He loved it when she smiled like that. Sometimes, when she would tease him about being such a geek, the joking sparkle in her eyes nearly knocked him to the floor. He had never thought he would fall so hard for someone… so hard, in fact, that he moved out of his mother's house so he could have at least a chance at a relationship with her.

Wendy's arms flowed easily above her head, waving to the rhythm of the drums. They had to be the most perfect arms Hodges had ever seen.

The beat built to a crescendo and then slowed to an easy waltz. Wendy hugged Archie quickly and thanked him for the dance. Feeling a hand on her shoulder, she whipped around and came face to face with David Hodges. "Hey," he said, suddenly growing shy.

"Hey," she replied, furrowing her brow in confusion. She'd never seen Hodges like this, fidgeting with his collar, breathing heavily… "Is everything okay?" she asked. "You look a little tense."

"Tense?" Hodges' voice went up about an octave. "I'm not tense." He tentatively held out his hand. "Would you like to dance with me?" Unconsciously he caught his breath.

"Sure." Wendy's affirmation surprised them both. _Did I really just agree to slow-dance with Hodges?_

_Did Wendy really just agree to slow-dance with me?_ Hodges let out a huge sigh of relief and hoped she wouldn't notice, only to catch his breath again as she stepped closer to him. "Go easy on me," he murmured. "I haven't done this in a while."

She laughed… a sound like angels in his ears. "No worries. It's like riding a bike." She slowly raised her left hand and gently placed it on his shoulder, ignoring the shiver she felt run down his spine. "Good. Now you put your right hand on my waist."

Hodges complied, swallowing hard as he hesitantly slipped his hand onto her waist. It felt great… like coming home. He reached out with his left hand and grasped her right one, holding the slim fingers ever so gently, but firmly. And when the music started, he felt like they were the only two people in the whole of Vegas.

_You're in my arms, and all the world is calm  
The music playing on for only two  
So close together, and when I'm with you  
So close to feeling alive._

Wendy's heart thumped against her chest as Hodges stepped forward with his right foot. She couldn't believe it. The snarky trace tech had a gentle, compassionate, even romantic side hidden beneath his superior comments and sarcastic remarks.

David Hodges had never felt so alive before. Ever. In his entire life. Even with that girl from college, the one he had thought he would marry. She never made him feel like this. If only it could last.

_A life goes by, romantic dreams must die  
So I bid mine goodbye, and never knew  
So close was waiting, waiting here with you  
And now forever I know, all that I wanted  
To hold you so close_

This was it. Hodges knew it right then and there. This was what he'd always wanted… to hold Wendy in his arms. Since the first day she'd shown up in the lab, with her deep brown eyes and a brain to rival his own, he'd known that he wanted her.

_So close to reaching that famous happy end  
Almost believing this was not pretend,  
Now you're beside me, and look how far we've come  
So far, we are so close_

Hodges lifted his arm and spun Wendy around in a circle. A soft smile spread across her face as Hodges brought her back in, swaying with the three-four beat of the waltz. It couldn't last. She knew it, and she thought he knew it too. But, at least for a moment, they could pretend that their fairy-tale ending was closer than it seemed.

_Oh, how could I face the faceless days  
If I should lose you now?  
We're so close to reaching that famous happy end  
Almost believing this was not pretend  
Let's go on dreaming, though we know we are  
So close, so close and still so far._

As the song ended, Wendy pulled away from him, her eyes brimming over with moisture. "I'm sorry, Hodges," she whispered. "I can't."

"Can't what?" he asked, shoving his hands into his jeans pocket. Somehow he'd known that the moment couldn't last forever. She was Wendy. He was Hodges. It was that simple. He'd screwed it up too many times before in the past.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I just can't do this. I can't stay… confused. You… you keep doing this, Hodges. And I can't take it. I'm sorry."

"What if I prove it to you?"

"Prove what?"

"This." He gestured between them. "You and me."

She shook her head, her dark ponytail falling over her shoulder. "I'm sorry," she whispered again. With one last look at him, she ran to the table, grabbed her jacket and purse, and dashed out the door.

Hodges followed her out the door, ignoring Mandy's shouted "What the hell did you do?". He caught up with her at her car as she fumbled for her keys. "Wait, Wendy!" he shouted.

Wendy glanced up, tears running down her cheeks. "There's nothing to prove, Hodges," she said, finally dragging her keys from her purse. She opened the car door, just in time for Hodges to reach it and slam it shut again. "Let me go," she murmured.

"Not until you hear me out." Hodges stepped closer to her. "Look, I know I'm a jackass sometimes. I'm a brown-noser. But believe me, it's all to get you to notice me."

"Notice you?" Her eyes grew wide. "Hodges, don't you think I'd notice you anyway? Okay, when you're not being a total jerk, you're actually a really nice, intelligent guy that I'd love to get to know, but you won't let me. You hide behind all your defense mechanisms because you're afraid of getting hurt. Well, you know, I might actually like the real David Hodges, the one who's gentle and compassionate."

Hodges took a step closer to her, so that their faces were about six inches apart. He was so close to her, he could feel each of her exhaled breaths on his own lips. Finally, against her better judgment, she closed the distance between them, covering his mouth with her own in a gentle, chaste kiss. His hands traveled to her waist, holding it like he had when they danced. Wendy's arms snaked around his neck, deepening the kiss.

As the moment passed, Wendy pulled away and looked Hodges in the eye. "That shouldn't have happened." She shook her head and opened her car door again, her lips still tingling from the kiss. "I have to go," she muttered as she got into the car.

He grabbed the top of the door as she tried to pull it shut. "See you tomorrow?" he asked, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

Wendy chuckled and turned the ignition. Her car roared to life. "Only in your dreams, David Hodges." With that, she pulled the car door shut and burned rubber out of the parking lot.

For several minutes after she disappeared from sight, Hodges stood in the parking lot, his hands shoved into his pockets. He had liplocked with Wendy Simms. It was like a dream come true. He was so close. So close… but still so far.


	2. Kiss the Girl

**A/N: Well... thanks to all my reviewers for the first oneshot! I guess I didn't really make it clear... these are all just oneshots. There is absolutely no logical order to these stories. They're pretty much the product of my random brain. And oh, how random it is! Anyway, this one's slightly less angsty than the last one... a little more fluff. Which we all love when it comes to these two! Leave a review if you wish!**

**Oh, and Hodges talks about falling out of a window when he was in college... that was actually me. Yep, I fell through my window last semester. Fortunately I live on the first floor, so it didn't hurt too bad, but it was a pretty funny story to tell, and very Hodges-like. Just thought you'd like that little bit of info about me.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, and the song "Kiss the Girl" is owned by Disney. I just borrow it for my own entertainment.**

* * *

_There you see her, sittin' there across the way  
She don't got a lot to say  
But there's something about her  
And you don't know why, but you're dying to try  
You wanna kiss the girl_

Wendy Simms felt awkward. That kind of feeling you get when you know someone's watching you. The hair on the back of her neck stood up straight, and she shivered. She looked up from her DNA analysis… and discovered who was staring at her.

Across the hall, David Hodges just couldn't help it. There was something about her… something that made him just want to plant one on her. Maybe it was her lips… shimmery with her light pink lip gloss. He wondered what it would taste like. Maybe it was her eyes… soft and brown, but boy, they could flash when she was angry with him. Maybe it was her brain… big enough to rival his own. Maybe it was the way she would stand up to him, like she could see straight through his façade. Whatever it was… it was driving him mad.

_Oh, God, he's coming over._ Wendy's heart started racing as Hodges got off his stool, picked up a manila folder, and sauntered across the hall toward her lab. She'd seen him staring at her. "What's up, Hodges?" she asked as he crossed the threshold into her lab.

"Got the trace off that blanket Catherine brought by earlier. She wanted me to kick it back to you. Apparently it glowed blue under ALS."

"Gotcha." She motioned to the table on the other side of the room. "Just leave it over there. I'm doing a CODIS search for Nick."

Hodges set the sample and the folder on the indicated table and turned back to face her. _Say something smart_, he told himself. "Say, Wendy, would you be interested in trying out that new seafood restaurant on the Strip tomorrow night?"

Wendy looked at him, her eyebrows raised. "Are you asking me out, Hodges?"

"What? Can't a guy ask his colleague and friend if she wants dinner?" He stepped closer to her. "Why would you think I'm asking you out?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's just, generally, when a guy wants to be friends, he doesn't spend all his spare time staring at you." She grinned as Hodges' face read _Busted._

"Staring? I wasn't staring."

"Right. You might not call it staring, but most people call looking at a person for more than five minutes without blinking 'staring'."

Hodges stepped even closer to her, until his thighs hit her knees. "You haven't answered my question, Simms."

"And you haven't answered mine."

He couldn't resist it. There her lips were, looking up at him, begging to be kissed senseless. It was like his mouth was magnetically pulled toward hers… until he finally gained control of his body. "Not a date," he said quietly.

Wendy swallowed hard. "Fine then," she said, pushing her chair back. "Before shift tomorrow?"

"Sounds good," he replied, stepping back a little. "It's a date." Her eyes narrowed, and he quickly tried to cover. "Not a date… just a friend… date… thing… you know." He turned on his heel and practically raced out of her lab.

_Yes, you want her, look at her  
You know you do  
Possible she wants you too, there is one way to ask her  
It don't take a word, not a single word  
Go on and kiss the girl_

Wendy giggled and choked on her water. "You did what?" she gasped.

"I fell out of my window when I was in college," Hodges said with a grin as he popped a shrimp in his mouth.

"I can't believe it." She sat back in her chair and grinned. "That explains a lot."

"Hey, to be fair, it was a first-floor dorm room, and I hit my ribcage, not my head."

"Still, Hodges, not many people can say they actually fell out of a window. Well, at least, not many are actually alive to tell the story."

"I'm not most people," he replied.

Wendy sighed suddenly. "That's for sure," she muttered.

Hodges' eyebrows went up. "What?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "So tell me more about Davy Hodges in college."

"Oh. Well I was a real ladies man."

Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Sure," he replied, shooting her another grin. "I had them wrapped around my little finger when I was in college."

"Yeah? What was your best move?"

_Uh-oh_. Hodges had to come up with something quick. "Well, I, uh…"

"C'mon. Show me." She had that challenging look in her eye, like she usually did when he acted like a junior-high student.

"Well, uh, I'd scoot my chair over, like this." He slowly moved closer to Wendy, who looked like her heart had stopped. "Then I'd say something really smooth… then I'd just lean in… like…" Once again, it was like his lips were drawn to hers. His brain short-circuited, and he leaned in… until his brain screamed _No!_. Quickly he sat up again and moved his chair over. "Excuse me, please… I've gotta…" Without another word he got up and dashed to the bathroom.

_Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, my oh my,  
Looks like the boy's too shy, ain't gonna kiss the girl  
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, ain't that sad,  
Ain't it a shame, too bad, you're gonna miss the girl_

"Thanks for taking me home before shift, Hodges." Wendy opened the passenger door of Hodges' sedan. "I didn't realize I'd forgotten my cell until we made it to the restaurant."

"Not a problem," he said with a grin. "You know I'm the perfect gentlemen."

Wendy smiled back. "Right. So the whole you putting my napkin in my lap was a perfectly gentleman move."

"Of course. A gentleman always takes care of a lady."

She raised her eyebrows. "Sure." She paused for a second, purse in hand, teeth on her lower lip. An awkward silence enveloped the whole car. "I had fun tonight, Hodges."

He smiled. "Yeah. Me too."

"The best non-date I've ever had."

"Me too," Hodges replied with a chuckle.

Wendy sighed and looked him in the eye. "Well," she said finally. "I should probably get going, so we're not late."

"Listen, why don't you let me walk you to the door?"

Her eyes sparkled. "For a non-date, you sure are doing lots of date things."

Hodges rolled his eyes. "C'mon, let me be a gentleman."

Wendy looked out of the window, considering his request. She glanced back at him. "Sure," she said quietly.

_Now's your moment, floating in a blue lagoon  
Boy, you'd better do it soon  
No time would be better  
She don't say a word, and she won't say a word  
Until ya kiss the girl._

_Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, don't be scared  
You've got the move prepared, go on and kiss the girl  
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la-la, don't stop now  
Don't try to hide it, how you wanna kiss the girl_

At her front door, Wendy fumbled through her purse for her keys. "I know I put them in there somewhere," she muttered, growing more flustered by the minute as Hodges stared at her.

"Wendy," he murmured.

"They've just gotta be here."

"Wendy."

"Come on you damn-"

"Wendy."

"What?!" She looked up just as Hodges closed the distance between them and gently pressed his lips to hers. Wendy started to fall backward, but his arms snaked around her waist, supporting her by her back. Finally, ignoring her screaming brain, she let her eyes close, and she kissed him back. She ran her fingers of one hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, and the other one grasped the lapel of his coat, keeping his body flush against hers.

After a couple of minutes, they pulled back, breathing hard. Hodges smiled at Wendy and ran his fingers through her brown locks, brushing one of her bangs back from her eyes. "Strawberry," he murmured, moving the hand on her back to rest on her hip.

"What?" Wendy asked with a smile, keeping her arms around his neck.

"I was just wondering earlier today what your lip gloss would taste like." He grinned at her. "It tastes like strawberries."


End file.
